Round 2 : MC +9

Full Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par 5 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 5 5 3 4 4 4 3 4 3 5 Rnd2 5 6 4 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 5

Well, can't say I saw that coming. There were a couple things that I was pleased with today and of course more things that were disappointing. I'm going to try and stay away from excuses although there were many differences today compared to yesterday. One of the positive differences was that I didn't have the tentativeness over the ball like I had seen yesterday. Unfortunately this is what started me in the wrong direction. My driver was amazing today, my first four tee shots were as perfect as they could be. Second hole my tee ball rested only 80 yards to the hole, I must have driven it 350 yrds (fairways are firm). I did have to deal with the very tight and firm lie to a tucked and elevated pin. Seemed easy enough I had a scoring wedge in my hand but I caught the shot thin and it flew over the green and in the hazard. This was the story of the day. Many of my shots struck well ended up completely different then how I had planned. I short sided myself more often than not, and of course on these greens 20 feet away it's pretty tough to drop them. Don't get me wrong there are guys that shot crazy low scores. Barry actually played with both of the leaders and said for both of them it was rediculous to watch, they made everything they looked at from anywhere (that's how you win). But you get my drift... I will concede that the course should have been played in 1 to 3 under par if you were doing well... Eight under is just nuts. Anyways, eventhough I had some bad luck on the first couple holes i just focused on hitting the greens and sure enough I did but 3 putted those 3 greens in a row. Everywhere I put my ball was just no good to get close. I will say that I had an uninhibited swing but i was just killing every shot, I even clubbed down from my partners 206 into strong wind and my 5 iron flew the green completely. It was very confusing.
Then I started to lose it and I am upset at where my mental game went. Because I felt so good at the start of day and wasn't tentative over any shot I got down on myself because if I felt like that I would've done a lot better, I had bad self talk "why are you doing this?" kind of stuff. I started to speed up my play a little bit and I was certainly in a rut for 5-6 holes. At about the 13th hole I came around and started to think more about how I could still make the cut and keep going... I struck a big drive right into perfect position left with 100 yards downwind to a moderate pin ... I caught it thin and was at the back of the green 40 foot putt and 3 putted. Somehow I didn't get down on myself there and gave myself birdie chances on the next holes 14,15 and 16 not making one of them. I basically stumbled in from there. So it was pretty dissapointing, but at least I know what to work on and what to expect. I really feel like todays score could have been avoided had I stepped back and taken a little more time... unfortunately I didn't notice until it was too late.

It's tough to deal with these things only because I don't have many chances to play under pressure, and matched with the high expectations I do. When something like this happens it's tough to dig yourself out of the doom and gloom but I know I have every bit of skill that the guy next to me has... and soon enough (say 2 weeks from now) it will be evident.

JS